


Chips on Shoulders

by panther



Category: Star Trek: The Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-07
Updated: 2013-09-07
Packaged: 2017-12-25 22:43:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/958456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/panther/pseuds/panther
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jim doesn't have the best communication skills. Len doesn't speak up when he should. They muddle through.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chips on Shoulders

Jim Kirk sure knows how to talk a lot and Len doubts you will find anyone on campus willing to argue with that. That sure doesn't mean the kid has anything like decent communication skills. There is a difference even if not too many people around the Academy seem to be aware of it. Jim talks a lot so that no one else can get a word in edge-ways to ask the questions that matter. Those questions are like what happened to his brother, where is his mother these days and why do his eyes darken over when any of their classes talk about federation created colonies on other worlds? That seems a damn shame to Len because Jim Kirk might just be one of the few people at the Academy that Len is willing to sit and listen to and try to help. Others are not worth his time and would rather take and run than show any gratitude but Jim has been a good friend. He was there when Len was at his worst, hung-over as a new recruit and struggling to see the point in anything anymore never mind attending his lectures.

Len wonders if his tendency to get into bar brawls and quarrels with his teachers that verge on trouble are a result of whatever he has bottled up inside of him. It isn't like Len can just force him to talk though, confront him with his clear need to get something off his chest and just wait. He respects Jim too much for that, respects their friendship. There is also the fact that Len just doesn't have too much beyond Jim anymore. He's too old to blend in most of his fellow students, seen too much to relate to most of them.

He hopes Jim will come to him one day before it all boils over and Len can't pick up the pieces for the kid. Because it doesn't matter that they are in the same classes and sleep in single beds with a bomb-scare of data pads and clothes between them, Jim is a kid in Len's eyes. He can't put aside the father in him when he sees that need for comfort in Jim's eyes like he has seen so many times in Jo's. Jim might be rushing head first towards becoming a Starfleet Captain but he still needs someone to look out for him. One of the few personal conversations between Len and Jim was one where Jim was the one offering up information concentrated on Pike's dare to Jim in a dingy bar. Part of Len wonders if Captain is something Jim actually wants or just something he covets to make a point. Bravado and determination will only get a Captain so far. He still needs to care about his job when it comes down to it. Somehow life is about point scoring and then when it comes down to it, it really, really isn't. 

They both have chips on their shoulder and Len knows that even if Jim doesn't.


End file.
